Land-Based Empires Expand, Legitimize, and Consolidate their rule.

1450-1750

Europe & Russian Expansion:

• 1450 signals the end of the Medieval period and the beginning of the Early Modern Period in Europe

• No more black death, when the black death ends so does feudalism

• end of the 100 year war

• Introduction of the Printing Press - Increased Literacy

• New monarchies begin to grow, explore, and establish colonies.

• Leaders centralized power by:

• Controlling taxes

• Centralizing the military

• Controlling religion

• leaders worked to limit the power of the nobility

• controlling the areas, the leaders were able to tax their people, use military to protect their borders, and use religion to say we are the leaders

  Russia:

• Ivan IV becomes Tsar in 1547 and wants to expand Russia East.

• Russia does not look to conquer outside territories, their goal is to amass as much land in their surrounding area

• Takes control of last Khanates held by Golden Horde descendants.

• Expansion relied on Gunpowder.

• Focused on expanding East to control the fur trade.

• Took control of the Volga river which is important because it gave the Russians direct contact with the Ottoman empire.

• Russia eventually expanded as far east as the pacific ocean, dominated fur trade, missionaries converted many to Eastern Orthodox.

• real one land based empire is Russia

  East Asia expands:

  Background:The Yuan Dynasty - founded by Mongol leader Kublai Khan was overthrown by the Ming Dynasty in 1368. Ming rulers stabilized power for over 300 years until Portugal and other European nations came in to try and dominate Asian trade routes. The Ming were overthrown by the foreign Manchu people from Manchuria who established the Qing Dynasty which remained until 1911.

• Emperor Kangxi - One of China’s longest rulers - 1661 - 1722 (Very peaceful time)

• Emperor Qianlong - 1736 - 1796 Came in at a time of very high tax collecting and efficient governing.

• violently expanded Chinese borders

• Installed the Dalai Lama in Tibet

  Financial issues:

• Qianlong gives trading rights to some Europeans to make some $$ but the British wanted more.

• bureaucracy becomes corrupt and continues to increase taxes

• White Lotus Society reforms to try and reestablish the Ming Dynasty( the government suppresses it and kills peasants)

  Islamic Gunpowder Empires Expand:

• Gunpowder empires were able to expand because of their strong militaries (Ottoman Empire)

• utilize warfare to enhance reputation

• The Rule of Tamerlane started the rise of gunpowder empires

• Built a government dependent on the military that encouraged the arts and learning.

• Started in Samarkand and brutally spread through Persia and India.

• Began the ghazi ideal which encouraged Islamic warriors for centuries.

• ineffective rule led to the decline of the Tamerlane

  Ottoman Empire Expands:

• Ottoman Empire used gunpowder to establish itself.

• largest and most enduring of the great Islamic empires, with a great location for trade.

  Leaders:

• Mehmed II - the Conqueror, used siege weapons(weapons he took from the Mongols), and gunpowder to take over the city of Constantinople

• expanded to lands around the black sea, and built a navy to counter Venice(who he forced to pay a tax)

• Suleiman I - Ottoman empire reaches its peak.Able to send troops to Vienna

• 1550s - Took Tripoli in North Africa

• Suleiman the magnificent is gonna preach tolerance in his society

• Suleiman most famous of the sultans (1494-1566)(most impactful leader they had)

• Mehmet is important because he’s the first, establishes the empire (1432-1481)

  Decline:After Suleiman the Ottomans had weak sultans & strong European neighbors.”Harem Politics” weakened succession, the Russian empire expanded into Ottoman territory, Greece became independent, and Great Britain and France got more involved in the Empire leading to it’s fall by 1922.

  The Safavid Empire Expands (1501 - 1722):

• Safavids came to power because of their strong military led by 15 year old Ismail who pushed into Iraq and Iran becoming the first Shah.

  Leaders:

• Shah Abbas I - Presided over the empire at its height. Abbas is the most famous, have a golden age under him.(1571-1629)

• imported weapons from Europe

• Impressed Christian boys into his military.

• Controlled religion - used Shi’a Islam as a unifying force and denied legitimacy to any Sunni ruler.(use religion to centralize their power) (leads tension with the Sunni)

• Ottomans used trade bans against the Safavid to assert dominance.

• Women in the Safavid Empire had freedoms like divorce and inheritance

  Decline: ineffective leaders, sunni rebellions,Russia and the Ottomans were able to seize territory, and was replaced by the Zand Dynasty.

  Mughal Empire expands:

• Babur ( a descendant of Tamerlane) centralized Indian in the Mughal empire

• Akbar the Great, Babur’s grandson, the Mughal Empire was one of the richest and best-governed states in the world. (will preach religious tolerance, idea of combining communities)

• overseas trade of goods like spices, textiles, gold , silver, stones

• The Indian Caste System grew and controlled society.

• architectural achievements are a hallmark of Mughal culture.

• known for overland expansion (similar to Russia)

  Decline:Corruption, not being able to keep up with military.Tensions between Hindu and Muslim populations caused revolts and this instability allowed the French and British to come in and assert dominance in India.

  Administration:

  Centralizing Control in Europe:

  England:

• King James I - Divine right of the king.

• Bureaucratic Elites - the Justice of the Peace, collect taxes, weakened feudal lords

Checks to power:

• Parliament

• English Bill of Rights

  France:

• Henry IV and Louis XIV - Divine right of the king.(absolute power)

• Bureaucratic elites - Intendants or tax farmers.

• Louis XIV built the palace of Versailles to show off wealth as well as to keep his nobles close and ensure their loyalty.

• failure to share power with the parliament led to the weakening of France

  Russian Empire :

• Strict social classes, boyars(rich), serfs(peasants)

• Ivan IV: Hated the Boyars - thought they would overthrow him.Forced boyar families to live in Moscow like Louis XIV

• Created the Oprichnina - a secret police loyal to Ivan who kept an eye on the Boyars.

• Peter the Great: Defeated his sister and a boyar led army (the Streltsy) to take control after Ivan.Consolidated rule by eliminating threats.Expands borders.

• Reorganized Russia into provinces, used bureaucratic elites to collect taxes, created a senate to inform his decisions

  Ottoman Empire:

• Devshirme System - Staffs military and government with Christian boys stolen and forced to serve.

• Christian boys were taken because they were not “people of the book”

• Janissaries - Elite devshirme(forced taken children of Christians). Formed elite of Ottoman military

• Fiercely loyal to the sultan.

• Provided a path to upward mobility.

• if you were a christian in the empire you had to pay a tax that was your son, had to become a member of the government or soldier

• bureaucratic control

• helped maintain control because people could practice their faith freely

  China & The Mughal Empire:

  China(Ming):

• The Ming consolidated rule by erasing all traces of the previous Mongol rulers of the Yuan dynasty.

• brought back the civil service exam, improved education, reestablished the bureaucracy(unused by the Mongols)

  China (Qing):

• Effective bureaucracy became corrupt.

• Levied high taxes on the people.

• Used a harsh military to control and put down rebellions and maintain authority.

  Mughal(India):

  Akbar:

• Extended borders

• strong centralized government

• Bureaucratic elites - Zamindars- In charge of specific duties like taxation.(Zamindars became rich & corrupt, building armies loyal to them)

  Japan:

• Japan was ruled by military leaders called Shoguns, but they were in constant conflict with landholding aristocrats called the daimyo, leaving Japan fractured.

• Each daimyo had an army of samurai loyal to them

• Gunpowder allowed 3 powerful daimyo to take control and consolidate power in Japan: Oda Nobunaga used gunpowder to unify ⅓ of Japan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi followed Nobunaga and expanded until all of Japan was united. Tokugawa Ieyasu followed him and his successors ruled Japan into the mid-19th century in what is called the Period of Great Peace.

  Tokugawa Shogunate consolidated power by:

• Creating centralized control & ending the feudal system

• Dividing Japan into 250 hans, or territories, each controlled by a Daimyo. (forced Daimyos to have two homes so they could not gain power like in Russia or France)

• Tokugawa shogunate, most important in Japanese history, most famous of the Japanese family

  Legitimizing Power through Art and Architecture:

• Europe-Palace of Versailles

• St. Petersburg and Peter the Great-Winter Palace

• **Askia the Great of Songhai-**United Songhai in Africa by making Islam the united religion

• Mughal Empire and Shah Jahan-Taj Mahal

• Ottoman Empire-Suleymaniye Mosque, Topkapi palace, Cathedral of Saint Sophia(turned into a mosque)

  Consolidating and Legitimizing Power Through Finances :

• Russia-Private industry was encouraged. Industries (ship building and iron mines) owned completely by the state.Peasants were taxed heavily, pushed further into serfdom.

• Ottoman- tax farming, and heavy taxes on peasants.

• Mughal - Zamindar tax collection system.

• Ming-taxes were grain & later silver

• Tribute sytems: China collected tribute from Korea.Aztec had many tribute nations but collected from citizens.Songhai had tribute nations as well.

  Beliefs:

• Religions was a unifier, as well as to create division.Some rulers converted to solidify their power.This time is also marked by two major religion schisms (splits) on in Catholicism and another in Islam.

• Russia was orthodox, roman catholic is western Europe

  Protestant Reformation:

• corrupt catholic church, people started to realize and formed reform movements which were successful

• John Wycliffe: Priests are not necessary for salvation.

Translated the Bible into English.

• Martin Luther: a monk, very upset with the process of indulgences, “Sola Fide” (faith by you alone), ties in if it weren’t for the printing press.95 thesis, 95 problems with the catholic church.Believed women should have a bigger role in religion.

• John Calvin: preaches the idea of predestination.Created calvinism.

• Anglicanism:Henry VIII wanted a male heir desperately and went through many wives, by the time we hit the last wife and he wanted a divorce the pope wouldn’t let him.

• All 3 branches didn’t matter because all were protestants.Protestantism (Lutheranism)

  Counter Reformation:

• The Inquisition was to punish non-believers( thats when they start to punish and torture anyone who was a non believer).The jews were persecuted the most this is why the jews go to the mongol empire

• The Jesuits undertook missionary activity in the Spanish Empire as well as Japan and Indian to spread Catholicism.

• The Council of Trent corrected the issues such as indulgences, counter reformation was done to fix their errors

• we still have protestants spreading and we see it in the eastern region

• the catholic church allows missionaries to China, India, southeast Asia to spread the word of god, we’re losing followers we need new ones

  Wars of religion:

• between the catholics and protestants

• Peace of Augsburg ended the roman empire vs the German Lutherans

• Edict of Nantes(issued by Henry IV), which allowed Huguenots to practice their faith

• The Thirty Years’ War - Religious conflict starting in the Holy Roman Empire (Germany)  and eventually including numerous nations of Europe. Resulted in famine & disease.Ended in the Peace of Westphalia which allowed each region of the Holy Roman Empire to become Roman Catholic, Lutheran, or Calvinist.(allowed them to choose their religion)Prussia and Austria begin to assert themselves as an independent nation.

  Islamic Religious Schisms:

• Ottoman:Islam was the dominant religion.Used Muslim Sharia law code to consolidate rule. Sunni Islam - some tolerance under Suleiman, but not much after him.

• Safavid:Shi’a Islam was the dominant religion. Rulers denied legitimacy to any Sunni. Created hostilities with the Ottomans.It was mandatory to be Shi’a.

• Mughal:Akbar consolidated and unified his empire by tolerating all religions.

  Scientific Revolution:

• In the 1600’s in Europe, scientific thinking and the ideas of the Renaissance like curiosity, discovery, and investigation began to spread.

• In a time of religious schisms and wars, the Scientific Revolution presented the ideas of thinking based on reason rather than faith called empiricism.

• promoted one idea, humanism, allowed people to start questioning of the world which leads to the scientific revolution, people start questioning what the church is making people believe and what it teaches you